Goodreads

Free!

Goodreads is a searchable website of books. After launching the website, users can click the “Home” and “Browse” buttons to peruse books by genre; search books by title, author name, and ISBN; take quizzes; and view book award winners. Once users find a book of interest, they can click to read a short summary of it, read comments and reviews of the book made by other users, and view other books related to it.

The “Community” button on the top of the screen gives users access to groups, discussion, quotes, ask the author, trivia, creative writing, people, and events. Depending on their interest, users can click an option and explore the content. Often times, users are able to read other users’ ideas related to a topic and add their own! Lastly, users can register with Goodreads, which allows them to set reading goals, personalize genres of interest, and view specialized book recommendations. In addition, users will be able to mark books of specific interest to them.

Instructional Ideas for Goodreads

1. Teachers can have students register with this website and set a reading goal for themselves. Also, teachers can have students go to this website and search for books they wish to read in order to meet that goal. Teachers can check in with students periodically over the course of the class to measure students’ progress towards reaching their goal.
2. After reading a book, teachers can hold students accountable by having them post a comment about the book to this website. Students can then take a screenshot of their comment and email it to their teacher for grading. To ensure the quality of their post, students can use the Slick Write or Grammarly website to check it for quality.
3. Teachers can have students view the list of award winning books. After all the students in a class have read at least three books, the class can come up with award categories for books. Next, the students can nominate books for those awards. For each nomination, students will have to explain why they nominated the book and why they think the book aligns best to that category. When all the nominated books have been shared, students can vote for the winners for each category.
4. In preparation for silent reading time during class, teachers can have students mark 10 or more books they wish to read. Teachers can then view the list and have the school’s librarian pull those titles for students.
5. To help build interest in reading, students can view the blog feature in this website and read about books by categories. Students can click the books mentioned in the blog to learn more about them!

Screenshots of Goodreads